A Research On Improving English Listening And Speaking Ability Of Fourth-grade Students Through Task-based Language Teaching

As a new trend of Communicative Language Teaching, Task-based Language Teaching appeared in1980s.The New English Curriculum Standard highly advocates the use of TBLT, in which teachers involve the students’active participation in the task performance so as to help them learn English through doing things such as thinking, discussing, cooperating and communicating and so on. Students can learn, analyze, understand and use language by self-directed learning. Nowadays in China, many books and articles have been written on the study of TBLT in listening and speaking in middle schools or colleges, yet few applications have a systematic study of TBLT in primary schools.The dissertation presents a study to answer whether Task-based Language Teaching has a positive effect on the fourth-grade student’s ability of listening and speaking in English, following are the sub-questions:1. Can Task-based language teaching motivate students to listen and speak English?2. Is TBLT more effective to improve Fourth-grade students’ ability of English listening and speaking than Present, Practice, and Produce (PPP) approach?The research tentatively proposes some English listening and speaking instructional methods based on Task-based Language Teaching theory in a primary school in Xicheng district. The whole experiment lasted four months. The experimental class received the Task-based Language Teaching method of learning while the control class was taught with the traditional method. The data collection includes the following techniques:questionnaires, interviews, pre-test and post-test.The thesis consists of five chapters:Chapter1is an introduction to the background, significance and the structure of Task-based Language Teaching; Chapter2serves as an overview of previous studies on Task-based Language Teaching and Application of Task-based Language Teaching in English listening and speaking class. Chapter3serves as a description of the research methodology, which includes hypothesis, subjects, and research instruments, implementation of Task-based Language Teaching in English listening and speaking class in primary school. Data analysis and discussion are given in Chapter4. Chapter5is the description of the conclusions and limitation of this research. Implications for further research are also discussed in this Chapter.The following is a summary of the findings of the study:First of all, Task-based Language Teaching can increase students’interest in learning English. Next, students in the experimental class are more motivated than those students in the control class. Task-based Language Teaching can promote students’participation in English listening and speaking class. Furthermore, students’attitudes toward TBLT are positive. The last and the most important, in contrast with the traditional teaching methods, Task-based Language Teaching methods proves to be effective in improving students’listening and speaking achievements.